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Historic preservation focus of conference

This 1918 image shows the M.B. Shantz Button Manufacturing Co., with Monroe Avenue and Rutgers Street in the background. With plans in place to convert the site into lofts and townhouses, it’s an example of local preservation.
(Photo:
Provided by Rochester Public Library
)

Such a wide-open directive is indicative of preservation today — both in its many forms and as an important economic development tool as cities look to distinguish themselves.

"If Rochester, NY, can't differentiate itself from other communities, it is not going to have any competitive advantage," said Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. "That is why historic buildings and infrastructure are so important, (and) what communities should build on."

There has been a regional conference for years (typically drawing 150 to 180 people), but the Landmark Society of Western New York this year sought a broader audience, partnering with the Preservation League of New York State and Preservation Buffalo Niagara and AIA Rochester.

Still, the draw is largely upstate, from Albany to Buffalo, and thus, so too is the focus. The conversation is different upstate, where there is an abundance of properties and a shortage of investors. Downstate, the story is reversed, and the fight is just to preserve.

"It all comes down to economics," said Caitlin Meives, preservation planner with the Landmark Society of Western New York. "Preservation doesn't work if the numbers don't work."

The conference agenda includes presentations on housing, parks, office buildings and downtown areas.

"A lot of folks have a lot of different ideas for what preservation is about, some negative, some positive," Meives said. "We want to take this opportunity to say, 'This is preservation.' "

McMahon will speak at a breakfast Saturday, discussing why some Rust Belt cities have turned themselves around and are thriving and others are not. Most major U.S. cities are growing faster than their suburbs, he said, as particularly the younger generation looks to live in walkable neighborhoods, in the middle of the action, with shorter commutes.

There has not been a new shopping mall built in the United States since 2006, he said, and since then 10 percent of existing malls have closed. That is likely to continue. Of the remaining malls, nearly a third are being redeveloped.

"Every community that is doing well has taken a close look at itself and said, 'What are the things we have that are unique, and what are the things we can build on?' " McMahon said.

For Rochester, the answer lies in its waterfront, he said, its universities, its history and historical structures.